JURISDICTION OF COURTS IN CIVIL CASES

CIVIL CASES

SUPREME COURT
Petitions for Certiorari, prohibition or mandamus against the following:

Exclusive Original

a.
b.
c.
d.

Court of Appeals
COMELEC
Commission on Audit
Sandiganbayan

With the RTC;

Cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls
With the CTA;

Concurrent
Note: While the Rules provide for
concurrent jurisdiction among the RTC,
CA and SC, the same is still subject to
the doctrine of Hierarchy of Courts

a. Petitions for certiorari, prohibition, or mandamus against the RTC

b. Petitions for Writ of Kalikasan
With the RTC and CA;
a. Petitions for habeas corpus
b. Petitions for Quo Warranto
c. Petition for certiorari, prohibition or mandamus against inferior courts and other bodies
With the RTC, CA and Sandiganbayan
a. Petitions for Writ of Amparo
b. Petitions for a Writ of Habeas Data

By way of Appeal by Certiorari under Rule 45, against the;

Appellate

a.
b.
c.
d.

Court of Appeals
Sandiganbayan
RTC on pure question of law
In cases involving the constitutionality or validity of a law or treaty, international agreement
or executive agreement, law, presidential decree, proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance
or regulation, legality of a tax, impost, assessment, toll or penalty, jurisdiction of a lower
court (Sec 5, Article VII, 1987 Constitution)
e. CTA en banc

CIVIL CASES
Exclusive Original

COURT OF APPEALS
Actions for annulment of the judgment of the RTC

With the Supreme Court

a. Petitions for certiorari, prohibition or mandamus against the RTC
b. Petitions for a Writ of Kalikasan
c. Petitions for certiorari, prohibition or mandamus against the NLRC according to St Martin
Funeral Homes vs CA GR 180866 case, the petition should be files with the CA instead of SC

Concurrent

With the Supreme Court and RTC

a. Petitions for Habeas Corpus
b. Petitions for Quo Warranto
c. Petitions for certiorari, prohibition or mandamus against inferior courts and other bodies
With the RTC, SC & Sandiganbayan
a. Petitions for a Writ of Amparo

b. Petitions for a Writ of Habeas Data

With the RTC, SC & Sandiganbayan

Appellate

a. By way of ORDINARY APPEAL from the RTC and the Family Courts
b. By way of PETITION FOR REVIEW from the RTC rendered in the exercise of its appellate
jurisdiction
c. By way of PETITION FOR REVIEW from the decisions, resolutions, orders or awards of the
following
1. Civil Service Commission
2. Office of the Ombudsman in administrative disciplinary cases
3. Other bodies mentioned in Rule 43
d. Exclusive appellate jurisdiction over decisions of the MTCs in cadastral or land
registration cases pursuant to its delegated jurisdiction

CIVIL CASES

REGIONAL TRIAL COURTS

MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURTS

Exclusive Original

If the gross value, claim or demand EXCEEDS

P300,000 (outside Metro Manila), or EXCEEDS
P400,000 (Metro Manila)

If the gross value, claim, or demand DOES NOT

EXCEED P300,000 (outside Metro Manila, or
does not EXCEED P400,000 (Metro Manila)

1.
2.
3.
4.

Exclusive Original

Exclusive original
Exclusive Original

Exclusive Original

Actions involving personal property depending on the value

Admiralty and maritime cases depending on the amount of demand or claim
Probate proceedings (testate and intestate) depending on the gross value of the estate
Demand for money depending on the amount

Note: Exclusive of interest, damages of whatever kind, Attorneys fees, Litigation expenses, and Costs,
the amount of which must be specifically alleged but the filing fees thereon shall be paid
Note: The exclusion of the term damages of whatever kind applies to cases where the damages are
merely incidental to or a consequence of the main cause of action. However, in cases where the claim
for damages is the main cause of action, or one of the causes of action, the amount of such claim
shall be considered in determining the jurisdiction of the court
If the assessed value or interest in the real
If the assessed value or interest in the Real
property EXCEEDS P20,000 (outside Metro
property DOES NOT EXCEED P20,000 (outside
Manila) or EXCEEDS P50,000 (Metro Manila)
Metro Manila), or DOES NOT EXCEED P50,000
(Metro Manila)
5. Actions involving title to or possession of the property or any interest therein depending on
the assessed value
6. Actions the subject matter of which is
capable of pecuniary estimation. The
basic issue in an action incapable of
pecuniary estimation is one other
than the recovery of money. In this
kind of action, the money claim is
merely incidental (Singson vs Isabela
Sawmill, 88 SCRA 623)

6. Inclusion and exclusion of voters (BP

881 Section 136)

Note: Annulment of judgment of the RTC is

also an action which is incapable of pecuniary
estimation but is cognizable by the CA by
express mandate of BP 129. In other words,
all actions which are incapable of pecuniary
estimation is cognizable by the RTC except

a. With jurisdiction to resolve issue

of ownership to determine only
the issue of possession;

7. Those covered by the Rules of

Summary proceedings (Forcible Entry
and Unlawful Detainer [FEUD].

1. Irrespective of the amount of

damages or unpaid rentals

the annulment of judgment of the RTC

Special

7. Cases NOT within the exclusive

jurisdiction of any court, tribunal,
person or body exercising judicial or
quasi-judicial functions (General
jurisdiction of RTC)
8. Civil actions and special proceedings
falling within the exclusive original
jurisdiction of Juvenile and Domestic
Relations Court and Court of Agrarian
Relations as now provided by law.
9. Under Section 5.2 of the Securities
and Regulations Code to hear and
decide:
a. Devices or schemes employed by
or any acts of the Board of
Directors, business associates, its
officers or partnership,
amounting to fraud and
misrepresentation
b. Intra-corporate controversies
c. Controversies in the elections or
appointments of directors,
trustees, officers or managers of
corporations, partnerships or
associations;
d. Petitions of corporations,
partnerships or associations to be
declared in the state of
suspension of payments
SC may designate certain branches of RTC to try
exclusively criminal cases juvenile and domestic
relations cases, agrarian cases, urban land

sought to be recovered;
2. Where attorneys fees are
awarded the same shall not
EXCEED P20,000
b. Other civil cases, except probate
proceedings where the total
amount of the plaintiff claim DOES
NOT EXCEED P100,000 or DOES
NOT EXCEED P200,000 in Metro
Manila, exclusive of interests and
costs (as amended by A.M. No. 0211-09-SC, effective November 25,
2002)

Petition for Habeas Corpus or application for

bail in criminal cases in the absence of all RTC
judges in the province or city.

reform cases not falling within the jurisdiction

of any quasi-judicial body and other special
cases in the interest of justice
With the Supreme Court
Actions affecting ambassadors, public ministers
and consuls
With the Supreme Court and CA

Concurrent

A. Petitions for Habeas Corpus

B. Petitions for Quo Warranto
C. Petitions for certiorari, prohibition or
mandamus against inferior courts and
other bodies
With the SC, CA & Sandiganbayan
a. Petitions for Writ of Amparo
b. Petitions for a Writ of Habeas Data

Appellate

Delegated

With the INSURANCE COMMISSIONER claims not

exceeding P100,000
All cases decided by the lower courts in their
respective territorial jurisdiction except
decisions of lower courts in the exercise of
delegate jurisdiction
May be assigned by the SC to hear cadastral or
land registration cases where there is no
controversy or opposition over the land or in
case of contested lands, the value does not
exceed P100,000

CIVIL CASES

FAMILY COURTS
Family Courts now have exclusive original jurisdiction over:
a. Petitions for guardianship, custody of children, habeas corpus involving children (but the SC
and CA have not been deprived of their original jurisdiction);
b. Petitions for adoption of children and the revocation thereof.
c. Complaints for annulment and declaration of nullity of marriage, matter relating to marital
status, and property relations of husband and wife or those living together under different
status or agreement, and petitions for dissolution of conjugal partnership of gains;
d. Support and/or acknowledgement
e. Summary judicial proceedings under the family code
f. Petition for declaration of status of children, voluntary or involuntary commitment of
children, matter relating to parental authority and other cases cognizable under PD 603, EO
56(series of 1996) and other related laws

Original

Under the family code, the family home is deemed constituted, hence no need for its constitution
Special Provisional Remedies
a. In cases of violence among the family members living in the same domicile or household, the
Family court may issue a restraining order against the accused or defendant upon verified
application by the complainant or the victim for relief from abuse
b. The court may order the temporary custody of children in all civil actions for their custody,
support pendent lite including deduction from salary, and use of conjugal home and other
properties in all civil actions for support.

CIVIL CASES

Original

Concurrent

Cases that can be filed

SHARIAH COURTS
1. All cases involving custody, guardianship, legitimacy, paternity and filiation arising under the
Code of Muslim Personal laws
2. All cases involving disposition, distribution and settlement of estate of deceased Muslims,
probate of wills, issuance of letters of administration or appointment of administrators or
executors regardless of the nature or aggregate value of the property
3. Petitions for the declaration of absence and death for the cancellation or correction of
entries in the Muslim Registries mentioned in Title VI, Book Two of the Code of Muslim
Personal Laws
4. All actions arising from the customary contracts in which the parties are Muslims, if they have
not specified which law shall govern their relations
5. All petitions for mandamus, prohibition, injunction, certiorari, habeas corpus, and all other
auxiliary writs and processes in aid of its appellate jurisdiction
1. Petitions by Muslim for the constitution of family home, change of name and commitment of
an insane person to an asylum
2. All other personal and legal actions not mentioned in paragraph 1 (d) wherein the parties
involved are Muslims except those for forcible entry and unlawful detainer which shall fall
under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Municipal Circuit Court
3. All special civil actions for inter pleader or declaratory relief wherein the parties are Muslims
or the property involved belongs exclusively to Muslims
1. Offenses defined and punished under PD 1083
2. Disputes relating to:
a. Marriage
b. Divorce
c. Betrothal or breach of contract to marry
d. Customary dower (mahr)
e. Disposition and Distribution of property upon divorce
f. Maintenance and support and consolatory gifts (muta)
g. Restitution of marital rights
3. Disputes relative to communal properties